


A Storybrooke Christmas.

by NoelleWynters



Series: A Sense of Home. [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-15
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-01-04 16:15:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1083060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoelleWynters/pseuds/NoelleWynters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Christmas is made up of those little moments, and some chaos, but in the end it is all about being with the people you love.  No matter how you came together.</p><p>Set after the events in <b>Safe</b>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Decking the Halls.

**Author's Note:**

> Standard disclaimer applies: I own nothing, this is all for fun.

Rumpel sat by one of the large windows in the sitting room of his home, which were decorated with frost overlooking a snowy winter scene, sipping a cup of tea as the younger set stood a few feet away trying to decorate a tree. Trying was the operative word here, it seemed electrical Christmas lights had a wondrous talent of tangling over during the off season. He couldn’t help but wonder if there wasn’t some enchantment involved in that, as no matter how carefully they were packed they always came out a tangled knot the next year.

Mind you, calling the group over by the tree the younger set was a bit of a misnomer. The only one who might actually be her age, despite the different passage of time in each realm, was Alice. Thanks to the curse both he and Belle could add an extra 28 years to their age, due to time standing still. Bae, for he would always be Bae to him, he’d spent quite a bit of time in Neverland where time holds still. And finally there was Cyrus, who no one could pin an actual age on. After everything with Jafar they still had no idea how old he was, other than likely older than all of them put together.

Birthdays were fairly redundant in this strange family, but they tried to honour the ones that they knew, and the one they’d created. That was exactly what they were: a strange little family. All Rumpel had ever wanted was Bae back in his life, he had hoped he’d still be the boy that had slipped away from him all those years ago in the Enchanted Forest but had to content himself with the man he was now. It wasn’t what he’d longed for; so long as he had Bae he would be forever thankful for the second chance he’d been given. Bae was a good man, be it a bit jaded and quite the pain when he put his mind to it, but he was the type of man Rumpel felt he could be proud of. There were a few mistakes his son had made, with Emma and Henry in particular, that he didn’t agree with but felt he was by no means someone who should be passing judgement on anything. He’d done many horrible things over the years; the worst was going back on his promise to Bae. He wondered at times what would have been if he’d followed his son through the portal, but then life worked in funny ways. Neither of them would have met the people they had, or taken the paths that shaped them if he’d followed. He would always regret letting his son down in that moment, but fate had still brought them back together.

In Alice he’d discovered a young woman longing to have a father. That was something fate had cruelly denied her, as the man never stopped mourning his wife. Although Rumpel could understand the pain of losing someone so dear to the heart, it did not excuse ignoring the little child that only wanted the love of a parent and the guidance only they could give. Part of him longed to travel to this parallel England her father lived in and give him a good slap or two, Alice was a bright, clever and strong young woman, and that was no thanks to him. Everything she knew she had obviously learned through her ongoing adventures in Wonderland. How she’d survived in that place, even as a child, was beyond Rumpel. He’d never traveled to that particular realm, and it certainly had never made the short list for a place to vacation after Jefferson’s stories alone. But somehow it shaped her into the woman that now stood over by the tree: strong, clever and full of love to give. He smiled and pitied her father as he watched her laughing as she tried to straighten out another string of lights with the man she loved standing next to her.

That brought Rumpel to Cyrus, the curious one of the group. He’d lived for countless centuries and still had the curiosity of a child. He was a bit like Belle, just with him it was more obvious when something was completely new. Rumpel mused living in a bottle was likely the reason for it, and having no memory of his life before being cursed to the life of a genie. It did seem ironic to him that Cyrus’s magic, upon Alice wishing him somewhere safe, had somehow managed to find a way to him, the person who possessed the dagger used to kill his father and the reason he’d been imprisoned in his bottle for all eternity. That was the only thing anyone knew of his mortal life, and oddly Cyrus took it all in stride. Rumpel figured after centuries of living he knew what was not worth getting upset about, and the knowledge nothing would ever change the fact he was a genie and he always would be one obviously was not worth being angry about.

Of course now he had the added bonus his new master just so happened to be another immortal, that being Rumpel. Someone who certainly would never use his wishes and now Cyrus had the freedom to do and say as he pleased.

“I swear these things are possessed,” Belle muttered, making the others laugh. She had just spent the last ten minute detangling one particularly stubborn set of lights only to plug them in to discover half the string was full of dead lights.

“You might be right, maybe Rumpel cursed them so he could watch us detangle the lights for hours,” Alice laughed, glancing slyly over at the person in question, as she finally managed to straighten out the string she’d been working on for the last little while. She’d celebrated Christmas back in her own world, but they’d never had electrical lights like this to contend with. She was starting to think that was likely a very good thing as this was driving her slightly crazy. It was frustrating her to the point she was positive she’d have been like Will and accidently blurted out a wish just to be done with it.

Neal shook his head, handing another tangled mess to Cyrus who was looking less than impressed. “If my father wanted to keep us busy he’d find something a little more original than lights. Trust me, these things get tangled no matter how careful you are putting them away each year. I don’t know how it happens either, but I’ve spent many hours each year straightening these things out. And I can’t call it time well wasted either.”

Cyrus was about to say something when the door swung open, and in a flurry of snow Will, also known as the Knave of Hearts, walked in. Rumpel glared at him darkly as he tracked snow and slush through the house. He really did not appreciate people just barging in, but with Will you just had to grow accustom to it. He had a tendency to come and go as he pleased without too much in way of a by your leave, and that was leaving out the amazing mess he could track in when the weather was less than favourable.

“Are you all still working on those bloody lights? If I were you I’d just get Rumpel here to magic them all out straight and be done with it, and fix the dead bulbs while he’s at it. Lights are the bane of most everyone’s existence when it comes to Christmas. Well, that and the big family dinner. At this rate, you’ll be working on those until Santa arrives,” he quipped, shrugging out of his coat and dropping it on a nearby chair much to Rumpel’s displeasure.

Cyrus looked at Will oddly, inquiring as to what he was talking about since they weren’t expecting any guests that he was aware of. Will’s eyes lit up with mischief at that, a look that everyone in the room knew well if they happened to catch it, as it only ever lasted a fraction of a second. He never could pass up an opportunity to pull a fast one over on the genie. And so, without much ado, he launched right into it.

Rumpel had already explained Christmas to Cyrus, at least the reason people in this realm celebrated that particular day. Well, why certain groups in this realm celebrated. There were so many holidays for different people and for various reasons and meanings, but as they were in an area that celebrated Christmas that was the one they went with. He had decided to stick with the religious meaning behind the holiday, although it appeared once it was all explained Cyrus actually had some knowledge of the holiday, but had not known the name of it. It turned out in his travels he’d been to many lands, not just stayed in the one genies were most likely to be located and had learned many things, the only issue was half the time he never did find out the names or purposes to certain celebrations.

The one thing he hadn’t seen the point to explaining was the myth of Santa Claus, seeing as there were no children in the house he didn’t see much reason behind it. Of course there was Henry but he would be spending Christmas Eve and the morning after with Regina and Bae, as well as the Charmings. By the time they came over for Christmas dinner that evening all of that excitement should have worn off some.

Rumpel had also left it out as he felt it added to the commercialism of a holiday that seemed to have more meaning in peace and goodwill, since the curse had broken he’d heard about the mayhem that could ensue on this particular holiday. He preferred to keep things simple, and putting too many different aspects of the holiday out there did get rather confusing at times.

It was obvious Will was enjoying this, even if Cyrus was looking at him with a rather skeptical expression in his dark eyes as he worked on a particularly infuriating string of lights. There wasn’t much Will could do to get Alice going anymore, so he had fun playing little tricks here and there on the genie. He was also eternally grateful each time he did something that Cyrus reacted rather poorly to that the genie couldn’t use his magic for his own use, or else he was certain he’d have been magically sent to some strange realm, never to be seen from again.

“That cannot be true,” Cyrus commented when Will brought his story to an end. He’d lived many lifetimes and seen many amazing things, some of it he’d created himself through the wishes asked of him, but someone flying through the air with reindeer was a little much for him to swallow. And that was leaving out the climbing down chimneys and eating enough cookies to likely kill a person. To his way of thinking that person should have found them self dead at some point, as many people do not take kindly to people breaking into their homes, no matter what realm it was. If that didn’t kill this strange man, all the cookies should have done it.

Will grinned widely as he grabbed a cookie off a plate on the table, this was turning out to have been worth the annoying walk over in the snow. “Would I lie to you? Wait, no, don’t answer that. But seriously, thousands of kids the world over believe it.”

“It seems rather fanciful to be true,” Cyrus countered, setting down the lights and turning his attention to a box of ornaments. Children were different, they saw the world differently than adults. To them, there was wonder and magic at every turn, until they began to grow up and have that wonder crushed by reality. Cyrus knew magic was real, but he also knew it came with a cost. He knew that all too well, even if all he knew of his mortal life he’d read in the pages of the book they’d received from Nova. But this tall tale Will was babbling on about was pushing things a little too far.

Will laughed, this was entertaining him far too much. “And you’re a genie, do you really want to start a debate on fanciful anything?” he countered, sitting down only to receive a dirty look from Alice.

“If you’re here you might as well make yourself useful,” Alice informed him, tossing a string of lights at him. She didn’t mind his humour most of the time, but her patience was wearing thin with the lights and wanted them all detangled so she could just get them on the tree, or at least the bottom half of the tree. While she was busy with the ones she had it seemed Neal had taken care of getting lights on the top half.

Will caught them before they could hit him in the face, dropping his cookie in the process. “Ah, now see what you’ve done? I’ve dropped my biscuit all over some lights.”

“You deserve it, stop with your stories, we all know Santa is a fairy tale to keep children in line,” Belle stated as she got up to clean the mess Will had made. “Don’t be playing tricks on people, its Christmas time.”

“Considering we’re all from one fairy tale or another, I think we should give the old guy a chance to prove if he’s real or not,” he argued with a bit of a pout on his face. This really was a crazy conversation, and maybe they all were being hypocrites on the whole matter. They had to consider they had someone who could spin straw into gold, a girl who fell down a rabbit hole, the Knave of Hearts, a women who fell in love with a beast back in the Enchanted Forest, and a genie standing in the room. By all accounts, none of them should even exist at all in this realm.

Cyrus simply shrugged, he still didn’t believe one word Will had said but wasn’t going to argue with him over it. That only kept Will going, not to mention Belle and Alice were having enough fun debating the whole concept with him as it was.

Neal grinned as he walked over to the genie. “You have to admit though, this is a rather amusing debate,” he said whilst he helped hang decorations.

Cyrus laughed, it was that.

**********

Night had fallen and the tree was finally all strung with lights and the ornaments were hung. Will had gone home hours ago, after thoroughly exhausting his argument that Santa could be real, something no one was buying. He’d left with a parting shot that they were all getting coal in their stockings, which of course confused Cyrus slightly but he didn’t bother pursuing what that meant.

Belle was seated with a cup of tea, the same as Rumpel, enjoying some holiday music on the radio as Neal, Alice and Cyrus were fidgeting with the ornaments on the tree. As far as she was concerned the tree looked perfect, but they were having too much fun moving things around she wasn’t going to stop them with their fun.

She had to admit, this was a rather nice time of year. She hadn’t experienced it during the curse, although she hadn’t experienced much of anything due to Regina making sure she’d stayed locked up.

Belle had since been able to forgive her for all of that, she saw no point in holding a grudge as that woman was a good example of how hate can twist your soul and make you take to extreme measures. Besides, she’d been quite instrumental in their battle with Jafar and helped Cyrus find a way to use his dark magic to bring the sorcerer down.

And wasn’t goodwill and love part of what the season was about? It made no sense to hold a grudge against Regina, deep down she was just looking for people to love her, the same as every other person in the world.

“I think this tree looks just fine the way it is,” Cyrus stated, taking a few steps back to look it over. Like Belle, this was his first time actually seeing one. After the purpose of Christmas had been explained to him he realized he knew the holiday, as he had traveled to many different places as a genie and had come into the possession of some who celebrated Christmas.

But living in a bottle meant he never did see what exactly was involved with said holiday. This was the first time he’d seen a Christmas tree and he had to admit it was rather pretty. The way the warm glow of the lights shone in the room, and how the tiny lights reflected off the ornaments was almost magical.

He felt Alice wrap an arm around his waist while resting her head on his shoulder, and could see her looking up at him out of the corner of his eye. She had a content, dreamy smile on her face as she pressed herself as close to him as she possibly could. He couldn’t help the slight laugh that escaped his lips; she’d been like this ever since Rumpel had released him from his bottle. He wondered at times if she thought he was going to vanish again.

“What are you laughing at?” she asked, giving him a little punch in the side to prove she had a pretty good idea.

That made him laugh all the more. “You know I’m not going to vanish,” he whispered as he kissed her lightly on the top of her head.

“I know, but I can’t help wanting to feel you near me just to be certain,” she answered, taking one his hands in hers and pressing her lips to it.

She just needed to feel him near, as often as possible. After everything that had happened she still had moments it felt like she was just dreaming all of this, the fact he was here and she had finally found a place to call home, there were moments it simply did not feel real.

Neal sat down on the chesterfield beside Belle, watching as Alice and Cyrus sat down on the floor next to the tree, falling into a hushed conversation. A smile spread across his face as he watched them. Everything about this Christmas felt right. Ever since he’d landed in this realm he’d never really understood the point to celebrating. He’d gone through the motions of course, but never really felt this Christmas spirit everyone talked about.

Now that he was back with his father he was starting to understand the appeal of Christmas. It was in this very moment, as his father and Belle sat reading a book while Alice and Cyrus talked and laughed while sitting by the tree that he truly felt that this was what Christmas was: the little moments with those you loved and cared about, be them blood relations or people who became family when you opened your heart to them.

He laughed and stood up, walking towards the tree to sit with the two his father jokingly called his adopted brother and sister when Cyrus implored him to aide him in some argument or other with Alice. Neal was more than happy to help, but obviously the genie had not learned in his long life that women were always right, no matter how wrong they were.

Their laughter pulled Rumpel out of his book for a moment. He glanced up to see the ones he called the children sat by the tree in a lively, but playful, argument. A grin played at the corner of his mouth; he might be called the Dark One and enjoyed making sure all in the strange little town they lived were wary of him, but it was nice having these moments.

There was still a darkness lingering in him, there was no spell to make it dormant like the darkness in Cyrus, but once in awhile these moments made him forget about that dagger and all he’d done after having it come into his possession.

He knew some longed to return to the Enchanted Forest, but he felt quite content in this realm, in their quaint little town the curse had created. He’d created it to find his son, his only family. He never would have guessed it would bring him an adoptive son and daughter and reunite him with the one woman he thought was lost to him forever.

It was in moments like this, with the glow of the lights on the tree illuminating the room and Christmas carols softly playing on the radio that he felt as though he was nothing more than a regular man with a family. And he had to admit to himself he rather enjoyed it, even if he would be loathed to let any outside of that very room ever know.


	2. Christmas time in the city.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip to take Henry to see Santa has Emma and Alice shopping for gifts, in which Alice discovers something new and fascinating. Meanwhile, Cyrus makes some new friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Standard disclaimer applies: I own nothing, this is all for a bit of fun.
> 
> Also, there are a couple original female characters in this chapter, I doubt they'll be seen again in the course of this.

Alice tried to not make herself too obvious as she walked along with Emma through the massive shopping mall. The place was awash in decorations of various colours of red and green, along with splashes of silver and gold here and there. Music of the season played over speakers in the commons, and each store they walked by had their own music playing, as well their own decorations for her to look at in some form of wonder.

At first she’d been reluctant to travel outside of Storybrooke and back to the city they’d run into all the troubles, but she knew Jafar was gone so there was no reason to worry. Not to mention they were with Emma and Neal, as they were taking Henry to see Santa. Cyrus had been about to scoff at that until he caught sight of Henry standing in the hall, and had quickly hushed up. It was more than obvious to her that lovely conversation Neal had told her about with Will had annoyed him greatly, and it didn’t help Will was still on his case for disbelieving in another mythical being.

“So, I take it Will won’t be receiving a Christmas gift from Cyrus?” Emma commented as they walked into a large department store.

Alice laughed. “If he does it won’t be anything he likes. I’m not sure why it is bothering him so much though, normally Cyrus does have a sense of humour.”

Emma picked a pair of mittens up off the shelf to look over, she was a little lost on what to buy Neal for Christmas and was thinking of going with something practical. “Well, I’ve only seen one or two of the little tiffs, but I’d guess the fact Will relentlessly points out Cyrus isn’t human might have something to do with it. I mean, so long as he’s wearing long sleeves to hide those binds of his you’d never know he was a genie.”

That was something that had crossed Alice’s mind, but she had wanted to avoid bringing it up. She knew Will could be a little harsh at times, which she chalked up to the fact he didn’t have his heart, but she fancied he’d at least know when to back off. Although, sometimes when he was having a good laugh he didn’t seem to realize he’d gone too far, but a lot of people were like that. Whenever she approached Cyrus about it afterwards he would brush it off and tell her not to worry about it. Evidently, she should have pushed that matter a bit.

“It is hard when you’ve wanted to belong somewhere for so long to have it pointed out that you technically do not,” Emma suddenly said as she put the mittens back. They seemed a little impersonal, so she continued her search for a gift.

Alice followed her, waiting for more of an explanation. “I grew up going form family to family, which I can only assume is something like going from one master to the next. Anytime I thought I’d found a home I was sent away yet again, now that isn’t even close to the same thing as serving your purpose and being sent on your way, but at the same time it is still being tossed aside when you’re no longer needed or wanted. So in a way, I can empathize with how he might feel when Will constantly brings up the fact he’s mythical and shouldn’t even exist, despite the fact he was human at one time. I know Will means it as a joke, but sometimes it is far too easy to take a joke too far,” Emma explained.

“That makes sense. I thought that might be it, but he’s normally so angry after Will has a go I fancy it might be best to let him calm down, and when he finally does he just brushes me aside. We should play a trick on Will,” Alice suggested, a sly grin coming across her face.

Emma mirrored her smile; that did sound like a good deal of fun. It would be even better if they could get some of the people in town who could use magic in on it. “I like the way your mind works Alice, this could be a great deal of fun,” she laughed. “We’ll have to enlist a few more people, if we’re going to play a trick on him we may as well do it up right.”

“Oh yes, he keeps going on about we’re all getting coal in our stockings for not believing in Santa, maybe he should wake up to coal in all his socks,” Alice suggested as they walked by a display of make up. Her eyes instantly went to some sparkling bottles, stopping her in her tracks.

She walked over and picked one up, turning it in her hand and watching as the glittering contents moved about. A smile lit up her face as she watched. She turned to look at Emma, her smile was almost enough to light up the area around her. “When did they learn to bottle magic dust?” she inquired, her amazement and excitement evident in her voice.

Emma grinned and shook her head as the lady at the counter looked at Alice curiously. She walked over and took the bottle out of Alice’s hand and told her it was nail polish. The strange look that came over the younger woman’s face told her Alice had no clue what she was talking about. “Women use this to change the colour of their nails, and sometimes they use glitter to make them sparkle.”

“Oh, that sounds like it is fun,” Alice said, glancing back at the display of bottle filled with different colours of glitter. There had never been anything like that back in her own realm, and she’d noticed the Red Queen always seemed to have red nails but fancied that was something to do with magic.

Emma got the attention of the lady at the counter and inquired if they could get manicures. She turned to Alice and told her she was treating her to getting her nails done. “If I know Henry this trip to see Santa won’t be short, I warned Neal he was not getting a quick outing, although with the line up of kids he might have figured that out on his own. I say we get dolled up for our guys before we continue on with our Christmas shopping.”

“Oh, thank you! I can’t wait for Cyrus to see my nails with glitter on them, he won’t know what to make of it,” Alice enthused, earning herself another odd look from yet another woman working in the cosmetics department. They really were having a hard time trying to figure out what to make of the enthusiastic young woman who had never seen nail polish before in her life.

As they picked out what polish they’d like Emma explained that Alice and her fiancé came from strict families original, and hadn’t been exposed to a lot of different things in the world. This seemed to appease the women, slightly, although they still couldn’t help glancing at Alice curiously once in awhile as she enthused about almost everything she was seeing.

Emma thought about telling her to tone it down a bit, but couldn’t find it in her heart to. It was somewhat refreshing to be with someone who wasn’t jaded and could still find wonder in something as simple as a bottle of nail polish.

**********

Everything around him was absolute bedlam and he couldn’t say he was enjoying it.

Cyrus fidgeted again with one of the sleeves on his sweater, trying to keep from pulling it up high enough to make his bindings visible. That was one thing Neal had impressed upon him; make sure no one saw those. It would spark far too many questions, more if someone wanted to see them removed as you could never be sure

He stood as close to the wall as he could, away from the larger crowds that were moving at various speeds throughout the commons of the shopping mall. There were groups of people of various ages as well as families with children, all out to buy gifts or just spending some time window shopping. It was a little dizzying with all the noise from people talking and the music playing over the speakers, not to mention he wasn’t exactly certain where his companions had taken off to.

Suddenly he felt something hot pressed into his hand, causing him to jump slightly. He glanced to his right, where the heat had come from, to see a young woman looking at him. She was holding two red paper cups, and one she was pushing towards him. A shy smile was on her face and he could tell she was starting to think this was possibly the stupidest idea she’d ever had.

He grasped the warm cup, and smiled at her. She grinned back brightly, reaching up with her now free hand to tug at her reddish curly hair. “Sorry I scared you, you just looked a little lost there and I thought maybe a nice warm drink would cheer you up. You know, it is Christmas time and all,” she told him. “My name is Robyn.”

She extended her free hand to him, which he took happily. “My name is Cyrus,” he told her, as she motioned him over to one of the benches nearby.

Once they were seated, she asked him if his friends had abandoned him. He laughed and admitted they had in a way. He still found it odd to talk about everyone, as the only way to describe them was an adoptive family. “My adoptive brother brought his son to see this mall Santa, while his girlfriend and my fiancée went to do some shopping. I’m afraid I am not accustom to large gatherings like this, the noise alone is a little disorienting,” he explained as she sipped at her drink.

“Oh yeah, malls are a pain this time of year. They look pretty all decorated but there are too many crazy people out in them. Not to mention the kids, which are great and all if you like them. I had to bring my nephews to see Santa actually,” she told him.

“That seems to be some rite of passage of childhood around here,” Cyrus commented before trying his drink. She’d told him it was something called a gingerbread latte, and he had to admit it did taste rather good.

Robyn smirked. “Yeah, so are the buckets of coal the little monsters should be getting as well, if I had any say in it,” she quipped, causing him to choke on his drink in surprise at her words. “Oh geez, I’m sorry! Didn’t mean to make you choke”

He coughed for a moment or two before he could find his voice, and assured her it was alright. “I was just surprised by your sentiments is all. Observing everyone with their children here I was under the impression everyone loved them.”

Robyn laughed. “Oh, well if they didn’t pass by so quickly you’d likely spot the few that are ready to drop them off with mall security and run. I’m not saying they don’t love the kids, but this is a time of year that can bring out the worst in all, adult and child alike. Not that it matters with my nephews; they’re the spawn of all that is evil no matter the time of year. I would say my brother should have stopped at one but somehow the one turned into triplets.”

“I thought you said you were here with the children,” Cyrus observed, glancing around for any children that could share any of her features. There were so many people he gave up pretty fast.

“Oh, he met me here a little while ago. I had to bring the kids seeing as he wasn’t off work yet. And don’t bother trying to find anyone that looks like me, I’m adopted,” she informed him, grinning. “I’m not joking either or saying that because you are, I actually am. It was one of those stories where the couple was told they couldn’t have children so they adopted instead. Of course, years later they conceived by accident and well, he’s their absolute favourite. Which I guess is fine and all.”

Cyrus could tell by the way she was talking it was anything but fine, but wasn’t going to push the subject. He had just met her after all, and he felt it rude to bother her on that, so they fell into some amiable silence as they watched shoppers moving through the mall.

“Are you from around here?” she asked after a they’d sat that way for awhile, as she tipped the last of latte out of the red paper cup.

“No, we are visiting from Storybrooke,” he told her, getting a strange look in answer. He kept forgetting it was an enchanted town and likely no one had heard of it.

Robyn wrinkled her nose slightly, obviously deep in thought. “Nope, never heard of that place. Maybe my friend Alana has, she’s ten times more observant than I am.”

Cyrus laughed. “You do yourself a disservice, you noted I was in need of a comforting hot drink and someone to talk to.”

“Yeah well, it is hard not to notice someone looking like a lost puppy. Someone has to keep you company while you wait for your fiancée. There are a lot of crazy women out there, you’re just lucky I’m one of the sane ones,” she informed him as a laugh was heard nearby.

They both turned their attention to the girl walking over with wavy brown hair in a black jacket, swinging a purse with a skeleton design. “You, sane? Just keep telling yourself that and maybe one day someone will believe it,” the girl laughed, whom Robyn informed Cyrus was Alana.

He greeted her and introduced himself as well, just as Neal came along with Henry. Robyn managed to pull her shock together fast at the age of Henry; when Cyrus had said his brother’s son was going to see Santa she assumed he was the same age as her nephews, around eight years old. He looked a little old to believe in Santa but who was she to judge? It was rather refreshing to see at least one kid out there who wasn’t in a massive rush to grow up and could still believe in magic.

“Leave you alone for awhile and you’re making friends already. I guess you can never assume anything with the quiet ones,” Neal teased as he asked who Cyrus’ friends were.

Cyrus quickly introduced Robyn and Alana, both nodding as their name was mentioned and expressed how happy they were to meet Neal and Henry. “Are you out Christmas shopping?” Neal asked, as he scanned the area quickly for any sign of Emma and Alice. He thought they might go searching but with the mall so busy it might be simpler to stay in one place and just keep an open eye for them.

Alana nodded. “I am, just finished buying things for some extended family and my boyfriend. This is the last time I wait this long to do any shopping, the place is insane!”

Everyone laughed at that, it was certainly not a place to spend a peaceful afternoon. “I offered to take you shopping when I went to get stuff for my family and boyfriend but you didn’t want to go!” Robyn pointed out, to which Alana shrugged.

“I like a challenge I guess. So, are we hanging out here or are we off? Not that I don’t like meeting new people but I’d rather not run into the three monsters,” Alana commented, prompting Neal to ask who the three monsters were. 

Henry’s eyes went a little wide at that comment, with all consideration to where he came from he couldn’t help it. Although he doubted whoever they were talking about were actual monsters, he thought it would be pretty neat if they were.

Robyn shrugged and fished her car keys out of her pocket. “We can get going if you want, or we can stick around. It really makes no difference to me. I hopped the kids up on sugar before their father came so there is no way we’ll be seeing them again soon. He’s likely got his hands full.”

“You’re pretty evil, aren’t you?” Neal asked, noting to never let her babysit if they ever came across her again.

“Maybe a little, but if you guys want us gone we can make ourselves that way. I don’t think either of us want to intrude on your family time,” she answered, to which Cyrus told them they were welcome to stay around.

Neal and Henry shared the sentiment, so they all went to the little coffee shop they were next to and sat down to enjoy some conversation while Emma and Alice did whatever Christmas shopping they had to do.

**********

Belle looked up from the cookies she was packing away when the front door to the house opened. She’d been expecting Alice and Cyrus back for hours, it surprised her the group had been gone so long. She actually had longed to go on the trip outside of Storybrooke but didn’t want to risk her memories. Rumpel had insisted he could charm something for her, but she was still a little wary of that. One day she would chance it, but for now she was more than happy to just hear about the world outside of Storybrooke instead of experiencing it.

“Look at my nails, aren’t they pretty?” Alice inquired as they walked into the kitchen. She held her hands up to show off her nails that were sparkling with different shades of red and green. “I thought I’d do something festive, it looks like magic dust!”

“That is pretty, where did you get that?” Belle asked, walking around the island in the kitchen to take a closer look.

Cyrus set down the bags he’d been carrying in; this didn’t seem all that fair. He hadn’t bought anything yet he was the one stuck with the shopping bags. Neal had told him that was how it went when you had a girlfriend, he’d never heard that rule in all his life but he supposed he couldn’t argue with it. Even though Alice wasn’t his mistress now he still had a bit of a hard time telling her no. “I’m sure she has more of that stuff in one of these bags, just don’t ask me which one.”

He was fairly certain neither of them heard a word that he’d said, as they were both busy chattering on about nail polish. He quietly walked out of the kitchen, careful not to trip over any of the bags and found his way into the living room.

He sat down in a chair near the Christmas tree, just glad to finally have some peace and quiet. Evidently all those years on end alone in a bottle had made him less than capable of enjoying loud, bustling areas. He’d enjoyed meeting those two girls, Robyn and Alana, even if at times he found their conversation a little hard to follow, but they’d been interesting and he rather hoped to meet them again. It was wonderful having so many friends in Storybrooke, but he had to admit it was also nice to meet those who would be considered just normal people in the realm he was living in.

“I see shopping wore you out,” Rumpel commented, making Cyrus jump. He hadn’t realized he wasn’t alone in the room. “Sorry dearie, force of habit after all these years, I have acquired a talent for blending into the shadows.”

“I can see that,” Cyrus said, smiling.

“I take it the shopping trip was an experience,” Rumpel drily said, to which Cyrus nodded.

“Henry enjoyed himself; according to Neal he nearly drove the mall Santa to distraction with all his questions. Emma and Alice had a good time, and it seems I made a few friends,” he told Rumpel, who nodded.

“Well other than you look like you’re ready to hide in your bottle for a few weeks, it sounds like a nice day out. I imagine you’re not keen to repeat the experience,” he mentioned, smiling.

Cyrus laughed a bit. “I don’t know, it was interesting and I did enjoy meeting some new people. Possibly, when Christmas is over, I would be willing to leave Storybrooke again.”

“This is a crazy time of year for the mortals in this realm; they drive themselves to distraction to make a perfect holiday when in all truth, if they’d slow down and appreciate what they have right before their eyes they’d realize they already have that perfect Christmas,” the older man, the one who appeared older at least, mused as he glanced out the window to see it was snowing again. He grinned, taking a bit of pleasure in the fact he could think of one person in town who was likely cursing the turn in weather.

Cyrus couldn’t argue with that. He recalled the conversation with Alana and Robyn; all they wanted was a traditional Christmas as they’d grown up with but it was all falling flat as the rest of the family was trying to accommodate those who were more vocal about what they thought should be done and giving no consideration to anyone else.

It did seem sad that was what holidays could become, this was the first Christmas he’d experienced and he was fascinated with it, but he could see after that trip how easy it was to get caught up in the rush and completely forget about the little things that create the memories that last. He’d lived a long time and seen a lot, and although he remembered most every master he’d come to, it was the ones who did small kindness to him that he always remembered with fondness.

Before they’d parted ways when Emma and Alice had finally found them, Alana and Robyn had bid them all a Merry Christmas, and Alana had mentioned it was moments like that which made the holiday memorable. All they had done was sit in a coffee shop talking over their choice of hot beverage, eating sweets and yet it was something she said she’d always remember, a sentiment they’d all shared.

Cyrus smiled as he closed his eyes to get a few moments of rest before Alice came in to show Rumpel her glittering nails, he had to admit Alana was right. Those were the moments, the simple pleasures like creating memories with new friends, which really made the time of year special.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took far longer than I care to admit, but I hope it was worthwhile. I don't think there will be many more chapters, but who would know with me. Christmas is my favourite time of year so I do like writing about it.


	3. Pretty Paper.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It would appear there is one thing that can best the Dark One, and genies are useless when it comes to baking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Standard disclaimer applies: I own nothing, this is all for fun.

He’d been called many things over his long life: coward, imp, papa, husband and Dark One were naming only a few. Those were the ones he’d heard, there were likely many more that no one dared to say to his face. One thing he’d never been called was one with a flare or talent for wrapping gifts.

Sure, gifts wrapped in colourful paper with shimmering ribbons and satin bows looked lovely under the Christmas tree, more when the lights were lit and reflecting off the metallic paper but he could not understand how anyone could handle wrapping a gift without losing their patience fifty times over. He’d only wrapped three gifts and he was about ready to start using the colourful curse words he’d heard uttered by his son, which he assumed he’d picked up in this realm.

This was obviously retribution for him laughing at Cyrus not thirty minutes earlier when the genie had tried to help with the baking in the kitchen. Evidently cooking was a skill he’d never required, as he wasn’t paying an ounce of attention to what he was doing and ended up wearing the majority of the dry ingredients.

“Do you need help?” Belle asked, leaning against the door frame of the study with her arms crossed and an amused grin on her face.

Rumpel glared at her darkly, or as darkly as he ever could with her. “No dearie, I’m doing perfectly fine as you can see,” he grumbled.

Belle laughed. “You’ve wrapped three gifts in thirty minutes, if that isn’t a cry for help I don’t know what is.”

“Isn’t there a mess in the kitchen to take care of? I swore our little genie was having trouble with flour,” he snapped, wondering if he could use magic to simply make the paper, tape and ribbons do what he wanted.

Belle pushed away from the door frame and walked over to the table he was sat at and picked up some wrapping paper and a pair of scissors. Anyone else would stay clear of him in one of these moods, but she wasn’t afraid of his temperament. She could tell he wanted help with the gifts but was not going to ask for it. “We finished cleaning that awhile ago. Alice and Neal relegated Cyrus to decorating the cookies, figuring he couldn’t mess that up too much. You have to admit though, that was pretty funny when all the ingredients came up like a puff of smoke all over him,” she said, her blue eyes twinkling with mirth.

Rumpel bit back a chuckle; it had been rather funny, and he was glad it wasn’t him that it had happened to. He had considered helping out with the baking but when it was more than obvious the children, as he called them, were rather set on doing it themselves he let them at it. He was just pleased he’d stuck around long enough to witness that little mess.

“How is it you can seemingly wrap these things with ease, dearie?” he inquired, leaning back in his seat as he observed Belle tying another bow with satin ribbon on yet another gift. In the course of their short conversation she’d wrapped three gifts, much to his bafflement.

Belle shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe it is just a talent we women have?”

“Well then I concede to this talent, you are free to finish the rest of these gifts dearie. Without your assistance, although I did not ask for it, I am certain I’d have been wrapping gifts until Christmas Eve,” he admitted, although he was rather loathed to say it out loud. He’d not admitted to being defeated by anything since becoming the Dark One and hated he’d been bested by wrapping paper and tape.

“We can’t be good at everything,” Belle told him as she moved on to yet another gift. He really was amazed at how quickly she was moving along through the gifts; at this rate she’d be done in less than the thirty minutes it took him to wrap three.

“I guess not. Have those insufferable Charmings figured out what exactly they’re doing for Christmas Day? Now that it seems we’re one big, happy family I am assuming we have to invite them over for dinner, seeing as we spent Thanksgiving with them,” he commented as he picked up some gift tags and began writing on them. He’d find something useful to do, so he could say he had something to do with the wrapping process.

Belle shrugged. “I don’t know, I extended an invitation to David for him, Mary Margaret, Emma and Henry to come over for dinner that night. He seemed to be open to it, and told me he’d get back to me on that. I invited Regina as well, and she accepted already.”

“Why did you invite her?” Rumpel inquired, actually a little surprised Belle would extend an invitation to the woman who had kept her locked up for all those years. It was curious, but he knew Belle wasn’t the type to hold a grudge.

“She is Henry’s adoptive mother, and Mary Margaret’s step mother. She also helped out with putting whatever that spell was back over Cyrus, so why not invite her? It is Christmas after all, and besides, Neal is going to be at her place Christmas Eve with Henry and Emma. It really would have been odd, if not rude, not to invite her,” she explained, handing him another gift to put a tag on.

He took the gift, thinking over her words. She was right, and Christmas was a time to forgive past wrongs. “We’re going to need a lot of food if we’re feeding upwards of ten people.”

Belle nodded, mentioning she’s put Emma on that, if they were going to come over. She’d mentioned she knew the perfect place to get a turkey, and had insisted she contribute in some way. It appeared that was a part of the holiday as well, much to Belle’s surprise. She still wasn’t sure if the Charmings were coming, but David insisted he’d bring the wine and even Regina had offered to bring a dessert or two.

**********

Alice looked up from cutting out cookies when she heard the door to the kitchen open, and was surprised to see Emma walk in with a brown grocery bag. Behind her came Will, carrying the biggest turkey she’d ever seen.

“Hey Alice, how goes the cookies?” Emma inquired as she sat the bag down and started taking various items out to place on the counter.

“Good, we’re almost done with this batch of cookies actually. It does go faster with three people,” she told her, watching Will put the turkey down on the table with a bit of a grunt.

“That is one bloody huge turkey, how many people are you trying to feed at this dinner?” he asked, walking over to the cookies set out to cool over by Cyrus. He swiped one, earning himself a stern glare from the genie.

Neal stood up from checking the cookies baking in the oven, mentally doing the math in his head. “Ten people,” he answered.

“Well it is a good thing I know where to find big turkeys. I don’t think you’d find anything bigger, unless giants have turkeys. That would likely make this one look small,” Emma said as she leaned up against the counter, glancing over at Neal. “You certainly are quite domesticated; I never saw this side of you before.”

Neal laughed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close for a quick peck on the cheek. “I never had a need to show it off to you before, but I’ve always heard women love a man who can cook.”

Emma laughed, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him in for a kiss, not caring who was in the room. A few weeks ago she’d never have believed anyone if they’d told her she’d be reunited with Neal, but she was glad it had happened. At first she’d been upset with how he’d left her, as well as his reasoning behind it but had decided life was too short to hold a grudge, giving all consideration how long he’d held one for his father. If Neal could start to move past that and work on a relationship with his father, then she could certainly forgive him for doing what he thought was in her best interest all those years ago. Although she warned him to never try to do that sort of thing again.

“What is with all you lovey dovey types? Can’t you find a bloody room?” Will moaned, going for another cookie only to have his hand swatted away by Cyrus. “Really, now I can’t have a biscuit? After bringing over that bloody turkey?”

“Will, just stay out of the cookies, okay?” Alice said as she handed Cyrus a container to put the cooled ones in.

“You’re all a bunch of spoil sports, the lot of you,” Will grumbled as he walked over to take a seat at the kitchen table, but not before swiping another cookie whilst Cyrus wasn’t paying close attention.

Neal pulled away from Emma and asked Will what he had planned for Christmas. The Knave shrugged, he didn’t really do Christmas and never had since landing in this realm. It seemed more a hassle than anything to him. “Likely spend it with some of my nearest and dearest without some woman tying us down.”

“So, the dwarves,” Rumpel said as he and Belle walked into the room, getting a chuckle from everyone. “They’re the only men I can think of in this town who stay perpetually single and have little to no desire for a female counterpart. Other than Grumpy that is.”

Will pouted a bit; he actually planned on spending the day watching movies. Even if they’d invited him over for dinner he would have turned it down. Some may compare him to the Grinch or Scrooge, but he just wasn’t into Christmas. He’d bought all of his friends gifts as that was part of social etiquette, but he didn’t want the noisy Christmas dinner, or the morning spent opening gifts and hoping the recipients liked what was picked out for them. Even if he was driving Cyrus absolutely crazy with his insistence Santa was real; that was just for a bit of fun.

“Yeah well, preferable to some loud dinner with everyone overeating and then listening to people fight over the wishbone to make a wish,” he answered.

Emma’s eyes lit up. “I call dibs on the wishbone; I always loved making wishes on those when I was a kid.”

Cyrus started to laugh, shaking his head as he closed the lid on the container of cookies. He really found it hard to believe how far that little story had traveled.

“What is tickling you so much?” Will asked, noticing the amused expression on the genie’s face.

“It is nothing,” Cyrus insisted, with no luck. Emma and Neal jumped in as well, wanting to know what was so funny. It wasn’t that he found the fact that story was still around funny; he just couldn’t believe it. But then again, Will kept insisting on this Santa Claus character so he really shouldn’t be so surprised mortals had held onto that little myth.

He sighed, he actually didn’t want to ruin it for everyone but they wouldn’t stop, so finally he relented. “The myth surrounding the wishbone was created a long time ago by genies, long before I became a genie,” he stated, watching as they all looked at him with a mixture of curiousity, disbelief and slight annoyance.

“Now why would you off and go ruining that for everyone?” Will asked.

Cyrus looked at him incredulously; he had been the most vocal wanting to know what had amused him at the mention of wishbones. “You asked. It was created to keep mortals from seeking out a genie’s bottle or lamp, you’d believe there was magic in a wishbone and if you believed enough you’d make your wish come true on your own, without the need of a genie.”

“I’d actually heard that once before, back in the Enchanted Forest, although I wasn’t certain how valid it was. It is an interesting concept that wish granting entities had created the myth to get mortals to believe in the magic within themselves to change their destinies,” Rumpel said.

“It is rather pretty,” Alice agreed as she walked up beside Cyrus and wrapped her arms around him. “Although I’m glad I found a genie’s bottle, I doubt my life would have changed the way it had if I hadn’t.”

Cyrus smiled as he cupped her face in his hands, leaning over to kiss her. He was forever grateful that she’d found him as well, he couldn’t even begin to imagine where he’d be at that moment if not for her literally walking into his bottle and finally waking up that small hope inside him again that life could be so much more.

“Oye! I’m out of here before those biscuits make a return. I take it back, you all make me just about as sick as those Charmings,” Will proclaimed as he got up and walked out, without another word.

Alice pulled away from the kiss, looking at the door oddly when he left. “You know, we really have to do something about him and his lack of heart.”

“Can that wait until the new year?” Belle inquired, really hoping she didn’t mean they needed to see to it right away. “I was rather looking forward to the holidays with everyone.”

Alice nodded. “He seems to have gotten along fine so far without it, and something tells me convincing him he needs it is going to be an uphill battle.”

Emma nodded, he was stubborn if nothing else. He’d been pretty stubborn before the curse had been broken, and he seemed to have increased tenfold in that personality trait afterwards. “Oh, by the way Cyrus, don’t tell Henry any of that about wishbones. He really believes in that,” she said.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, I would have preferred to have kept it to myself to start with but it is amazing that story is still around,” he answered.

Neal grinned as Belle pushed him out of the way to fill the kettle with water for tea and hot cocoa. “I have to admit, I do like the sentiment behind it. All it takes is the power of believing in your wish to make it come true, without any magic at all.”

Rumpel nodded; it was rather ironic that myth lived on in a land where people didn’t truly believe in magic. The children did, they believed in fanciful tales like Santa and fairies that came to take any teeth they lost through the night, but as time moved forward and those starry eyed children turned into adults they lost the capacity to believe in anything slightly magical.

Except the myth surrounding a wishbone, even if they would vehemently deny they were breaking it in hopes of their wish coming true. It was rather funny how people thought in this realm. And yet, if they were faced with any person they’d read about in fairy tale books and legends they’d never believe any of it and would likely want to have said person committed for it.

“Well, I believe it is about time for afternoon tea. How fortunate we had some busy bakers to make us something to go with it. Would you care to join us Emma?” Rumpel inquired as he got some teacups out of the cupboard.

Emma was more than happy to stay, she really didn’t want to go back to her parent’s cramped apartment, and she actually enjoyed spending time with Belle and Rumpel, despite she never would say that aloud to many people. There was so much lost time to make up for with Neal as well, and she enjoyed hearing Alice and Cyrus’ tales about Wonderland.

“We have a trick to plan anyway, so this would be the perfect time to plot it out,” she said, sitting down at the table with Neal close behind following suit.

Alice started to laugh, getting her a strange look from Cyrus. “Oh, since Will has such a time bothering you over Santa and the whole you not believing in a myth when you’re a myth, which is very inconsiderate and rude, we thought we’d play a trick on him for Christmas.”

For a moment both Alice and Emma thought Cyrus was going to disagree with their plan, but a mischievous twinkle could be seen in his dark eyes after a second or two. That was all they needed as proof he was in on the idea as well, and it wouldn’t take long for Rumpel to convince Belle on the merits of the idea.

The Dark One always did enjoy a good trick or two when the chance came along, after all.


	4. Silent Night.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will gets a bit of a lesson on what could be the meaning of Christmas from an unlikely source. Belle just wants to know what her gift is and can't wait until morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Standard disclaimer applies: I own nothing, this is all for fun.

Snow could be seen in the lamp light that spilled in through the large windows in the sanctuary of the church. The lights were dimmed, someone was playing the piano and everyone was standing up singing hymns with a candle clasped in their hands. It was a very soothing atmosphere, it seemed everyone was finally feeling a sense of calm after all the hectic rush that came with the build up to Christmas; no matter what their stress level it all melted away as they walked into church that Christmas Eve for the candlelight service, all was replaced with a serene peace in each person.

That was with the exception of Will; he stood with his friends and wondered why exactly any of them were there. They were a town of cursed fairy tales, why would they be going to church and singing praises? Back in the Enchanted Forest, of course, there was a higher power just like in this realm, but there hadn’t been this congregating to sing praise or worship, at least not that he’d ever seen. Maybe there had been and he’d just failed to notice, he had not spent much time in the more populated areas if he could help it.

He mumbled along with another hymn, not really paying attention enough to pick up the words, taking in the strange sight of everyone around him. Near the front stood Regina, the evil queen, with Henry. Someone bent on vengeance, and yet there she stood with her adopted son singing whilst clutching a candle in her hands. Henry was quite into what he was singing, even though Will couldn’t see his face he could almost feel the excitement radiating off him. He was pretty sure that had more to do with the arrival of a certain mainstay of Christmas in the hearts of many children than the hymn he was currently singing.

His eyes kept roving, there was the cricket, now human, the dwarves, princes and princesses, a girl who could turn into a wolf, a freed genie, and the group he was standing with. And that was leaving out the fairies, which he was still sorry the curse had made them nuns. They were all such pretty things to look at, during the curse they’d been off limits and he was fairly certain they still were, much to his chagrin.

That then brought him to the fact he was standing between who he thought were the most unlikely characters to find at a Christmas Eve service: a man known as the Dark One and a genie. Sidney seemed like a strange one, considering what he once was, but as he was part of the curse he’d been attending church in some capacity for the past 28 years like the rest of them. Of course the Dark One had been part of the curse and had been seen darkening the door of the church as well over the span of the curse, and with all their memories returned Will had to wonder on why he was there.

He’d heard of Rumpelstiltskin during his life in the Enchanted Forest, before taking a trip through the looking glass, and knew one thing for certain: he never wanted to get on the wrong side of the man or enter into any deal with him. The tales of the many heinous acts he’d committed over his long life were the things of legends; although Will wondered now how embellished they were at times. He had no doubt the man had done some terrible things, but those terrified out of their wits could add in a few things to make up for what they’d forgotten in their fright.

It was a stark contrast to the man standing on his left right then, it was almost hard at times to reconcile the two into one person, and then of course there were Neal’s tales of his father before he’d acquired the dagger and became the Dark One. There were so many different sides to the man, and then there was who he was now to add into the mix. Will felt like his head was going to spin at times, it did prove that not all evil was born, sometimes it was created through the acts of others and desperate actions.

The person on his right though, one could argue in his case evil was born as he was born with a great capacity for it in a time long forgotten. They’d all been witness to it not that long ago, and Will still could not help but wonder how far the genie would have gone if he’d not been stopped. He still had a hard time trying to understand the life Cyrus must have led before Alice found him, and how much built up resentment and anger likely resided beneath his calm demeanour. There had been hints at times of having less than amiable masters, and Will had inquired about it despite a warning look from Alice. Cyrus would not elaborate, but promised one day he would.

Will just hoped he lived long enough to see that day. It wasn’t that he enjoyed hearing people’s tales of sadness or mistreatment, it was simply he wanted to know the person he’d risked life and limb for back in Wonderland. Cyrus did not talk a lot, at least not to anyone outside of the strange little family that had formed with Rumpel and Belle.

Before he knew it, the service ended and everyone started to leave the sanctuary for one of the rooms used for social gatherings. Belle and Alice were giddily talking about gingerbread and making bets on how much they could get away with before someone told them to stop, making him pity whoever had to deal with the two of them that night.

Just as he was leaving, he turned to see Cyrus had not left where he’d been standing. He was now sitting, which seemed to be the only change. He appeared lost in thought, like always. Will glanced towards where the food and drink was, longing to go eat as much of it as he pleased and possibly tease Alice about how she was going to give herself cavities if she didn’t lay off the sweets, but for some reason he felt himself drawn to see why exactly Cyrus was not joining the group.

He walked back over to the pew they’d been in, realizing that the genie still wasn’t keen on large gatherings. He supposed that had something to do with the solitary life he’d led, having no memory of anything before that. He rather enjoyed large groups himself, but his personality was completely different. 

“Penny for your thoughts,” Will said as he sat down next to Cyrus, trying not to laugh when the other man jumped slightly at the sound of his voice.

Cyrus took his gaze away from the Advent candles, looking at Will oddly. “What would a penny do for my thoughts?” he inquired, and this time Will did laugh. He did love having at least one person around still that didn’t get all the little quips, Alice had started to catch on, Cyrus still was clueless.

“It is just an expression, doesn’t mean anything really. I was just wondering what you were thinking about. I mean, I’m sure you’ve seen candles before considering how long you’ve been alive. It isn’t like they’re anything special,” he commented, gazing at them himself. He wondered if the fairies had enchanted them to be sure nothing would catch fire, as leaving them lit when the room was to be empty seemed rather foolish to him.

“I suppose I’m just savouring the peace that comes with this season, that’s all. I’ve never been able to experience any of these occasions before,” he explained, looking back towards the five candles sat in a wreath, all flickering as the fifth was lit to join the others that night.

Will shrugged, not really certain what Cyrus was getting at. “I would think after that shopping trip to the city you’d have had enough of Christmas like almost every other sane person. All it does is bring out the worst in people. You have kids who want all sorts of expensive things, and parents who just won’t tell their kids it isn’t happening. Instead they go to the ends of the earth, it would seem, to make sure their kids have what they think is the perfect Christmas morning.”

Cyrus smirked slightly, Will had just screwed up. “Ah, so you concede on your Santa theory then?”

Will shook his head. “Fine, you caught me. I was just having a bit of fun, didn’t mean anything by it.”

Cyrus didn’t say anything to that, he almost felt guilty over the trick that was going to be played on him through the night, but not enough to tell those involved they should cease their plan. Will had spent far too much time pointing out he wasn’t human like the rest of them, something he really didn’t need to be reminded of. 

He thought over what Will had said about the season, as he glanced out the window beyond the candles to see snow blowing outside. It was true on that shopping trip he had seen what could be considered the worst of people. The screaming children, even older children were showing how greedy they could be with all the expensive things they desired. But he’d also seen the goodness in people that day too; almost everyone had passed him by, some giving him odd looks which he could not read, none noting his nervous demeanour in such a crowded place. Yet one person had thought to extend a simple kindness in the form of a warm drink. Even if Cyrus still had a very bleak outlook on human kind as a whole, he had to admit there were some good souls out there.

“I think you miss the purpose to the season,” he finally said, turning his gaze back to Will, who was looking at him curiously. Did the fact he lacked a heart, a fact Cyrus would not let on he knew, really alter one’s perception of life that much?

Will shrugged, he had seen more of Christmas than the genie. He had been cursed to live in this realm for 28 years and although time did stand still everything around them continued to change. They did not change, but the world outside Storybrooke did and they would see things on the television. “Oh no, I got it. Giving gifts, people not liking the gifts because they’re the wrong thing, stressing yourself out over family dinners and trying to make everyone happy at the expense of your own happiness. That is what I’ve taken away from Christmas,” he answered, watching as Cyrus shook his head. “Oh, and you’ve figured it all out, you who have spent lifetimes living in a bloody bottle.”

“The holiday has changed, from what I have seen, but it is a simple holiday with a single meaning: love,” he stated, as Will chuckled.

“What is with all of you lot and this love thing? I swear you all should have cavities from all this syrupy sweet love rubbish you spout off,” he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back in the pew.

“If you listen to what was said during this service, and even in the hymns that are popular this time of year, you would see that is what it is about. And in truth, I’ve come into the possession of masters of many different walks of life and faiths, and although I was rarely shown any compassion I could see many who had a strong faith were the ones who loved the most. Believe what faith and higher power that you please, but in the end, on this holiday for this faith it is about love,” Cyrus told him, wondering how Will could have missed the entire point to the service that snowy night.

Will didn’t say anything, just made a little disapproving sound. Cyrus truly was baffled at his attitude, and wondered again what sort of argument they’d have to make to convince him he needed to have his heart. “ _For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life_ ,” he quoted, amused by the expression that washed over the Knave’s face.

“I guess you were paying attention. Fine, I will agree that the original meaning to the holiday is love, but it has been warped so much over time that it is lost on people. And the fact I have a genie telling me this makes it all the stranger. I mean, everything you’ve seen and been through, if anyone should be a cynic here it is you, not me,” he argued.

“I always had hope that no matter how horrid a master I had, the next one could be better. If you do not have hope, and a strong belief in love, what do you have? If you do not have faith in something, why bother living? If all you live for day to day is for your own pleasure and not giving a thought to the cares of another, what is your purpose? It is apparent to me that it is this time of year your race is reminded that love truly is the greatest power to be had. One person can make all the difference to another, you all touch the lives of others around you and without your presence the world would be less for someone,” Cyrus explained.

To that, Will couldn’t find an argument. He’d always been told everyone touched another life, and would leave a hole if they didn’t exist. Not to mention he’d seen it in some black and white movie that he would see every Christmas season. He did notice one thing in what he’d just been told though. “I notice you keep saying ‘my race’, you need to stop excluding yourself there Cyrus,” he pointed out, tipping his head back to look up at the vaulted ceiling. “I told you during that fight with Jafar: you’re not a possession to be owned and controlled. I’ve seen how you touched Alice’s life and without you her life would be empty. I get it is likely going to take you awhile to get used to the idea that you’re no longer a piece of property, but you need to try.”

Cyrus was about to answer back when Henry came dashing towards them, a bright smile on his face. “What are you two doing? All the fun is in the other room!” he exclaimed as he grabbed Cyrus by the arm and pulled him up to follow him to where everyone had gathered.

Will rolled his eyes and made to follow. He wasn’t sure what fun was to be had in the other room, unless of course Alice and Belle had managed to eat all the gingerbread and were currently on some sort of sugar high.

Now that, that would be fun and he was forever glad it was Rumpel and Cyrus dealing with them that night. Just hearing the giddy laughter coming from both women as they walked into the room made him assume even Neal was likely glad he was spending the night with Emma and Henry at Regina’s house.

**********

The clock on the mantel was chiming midnight and Belle still hadn’t come down from her sugar high. She wasn’t flying quite as high as a few hours ago, but still, she wasn’t ready to sleep yet.

She sat on the arm of Rumpel’s chair, watching as he worked on something that she could only call a necklace. It was some sort of charm on a leather cord, nothing grand but she couldn’t help but watch as he worked some magic over it. He’d been spending quite a few of the past days creating things, as he refused to go shopping for Christmas gifts.

For Alice he’d actually created a magical photo book. Belle was still a little confused on how it worked, all she knew was if Alice wrote a memory in it, there would be a drawing created of the memory, just as she remembered it in her mind. It sounded like the most amazing gift, and with the imagination Alice had, not to mention her memories of her time in Wonderland, it seemed like the perfect gift.

This one, she had no clue what it was. Neal had been seen to already as well, although his wasn’t a magical gift. Despite everything, Neal was still rather against magic, so Rumpel had relented and had found him a book to record family events in, as Neal had become quite the family man since that hastily uttered wish. He’d always wanted a family, a stable family, and he had felt he’d lacked that back in the Enchanted Forest. This was anything but a normal family by the standards of the realm they were in but it was still a family. Rumpel also knew there was a chance one day his son and Emma may expand their own little family, so the book seemed appropriate.

“What is this?” Belle finally asked, keeping her voice low. Cyrus and Alice had fallen asleep an hour or so ago on the chesterfield. Alice had fought sleep until the end, likely due to the sugar rush.

Rumpel smiled as he finished enchanting it, and held it up to admire. It wasn’t anything special for a charm, just a crystal that shimmered like ice on a leather cord. It sparkled in the glow of the tree lights, much to his enjoyment. He might be known for being rather dark and evil, but he did like beautiful things. “This is for Cyrus; I enchanted it to keep his nightmares away. He is still suffering with them and I fear he will for a long time yet.”

Belle smiled, her gaze moving from the charm towards where Cyrus and Alice were sleeping. After he’d fallen asleep Alice had curled up next to him, and not long after had nodded off herself. She had a feeling there would be no nightmares bothering him that night.

“So, what did you get me?” she teased, poking him as he put the necklace in a small gift bag.

Rumpel grinned, he’d been waiting for her to turn into a child wanting to know what her gift was. “Now if I told you that, dearie, it would take the excitement out of opening it tomorrow morning, now wouldn’t it?”

“Oh come on, a hint? It is the biggest gift under the tree but light as a feather. I swear you enchanted it to fool me,” she said with a pout.

“There is no enchantment on that gift, I assure you. Maybe I gave you an empty box. I’ve heard children like those this time of year,” he joked as he stood to hang the small gift bag off a branch on the tree.

He turned to see Belle still seated where she was, arms crossed and a playful pout on her pretty face. “Oh come now, you look like a sulking four year old. It is only a few more hours and you can open it to find the box is empty. We should be off to bed, but first I think we should get these two some pillows and a quilt. Not to mention move them to a slightly more comfortable position,” he suggested as he went into the hall to get said items.

Belle stood and began to move the sleeping pair into a position that looked a little less painful, or at least less likely to give them any aches and pains in the morning. Rumpel returned a few minutes later with the pillows and quilt, and as they were positioning the pillows Cyrus slowly began to stir.

His eyes blinked a few times, although it was obvious he was trying to fight the concept of waking up. Rumpel smiled, this felt a bit like being with Bae as a young boy when he’d fall asleep in strange places throughout the house. “Go back to sleep, dearie. Alice has finally succumbed to sleep and I doubt you want her awake again after how hyper she was,” he told the genie, draping the quilt over them both.

Cyrus smiled slightly, wrapping his arms around Alice as he closed his eyes again. In a few seconds he was asleep once more, something Belle always marvelled at. He always seemed to be able to fall asleep at the drop of a pin. She leaned over and gave both a light kiss on the forehead, feeling that motherly urge wash over her. They both looked to be around her age, but to her they were still just her children.

Once they had Alice and Cyrus settled on the chesterfield Rumpel extended his hand to Belle to help her stand. Once she was standing again, he leaned over and gave her a kiss, which she was more than happy to reciprocate.

It was one of those perfect moments, to Belle at any rate. They might not look like the family she saw in the Christmas movies that were prevalent on that magic box over the season, but to her this moment was no different. The children were asleep and the adults were preparing to turn in for the night.

When the kiss ended she reached up to wrap her arms around Rumpel’s neck, gazing at him lovingly in the glow of the Christmas lights. A dreamy smile came over her face, as she started to feel sleep calling her. She gave him one more kiss before finally admitting she should retire for the night, as there was a large dinner to cook the next day.

As she walked out of the room, she turned at the doorway and glanced back to Rumpel who was arranging the gifts under the tree before retiring himself for the night. “Merry Christmas Rumpel,” she said, smiling.

He glanced up, a bright smile on his face as well. “Merry Christmas to you too, dearie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter after this. I am really hoping to get it up tomorrow...or better yet, write it today. I liked it better when I was a few chapters ahead in writing.
> 
> The passage I have Cyrus quote is John 3:16 (I'm pretty sure it is). For the record, I'm not trying to push religion at all in this. I wanted to have moments with all aspects of Christmas and religion is one, to me anyway, I went to a Catholic high school so it became a major part to me.
> 
> Hope this is an enjoyable chapter at any rate.


	5. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas Day brings surprise gifts, segregation of the genders (or at least that is what Cyrus comes to conclude, unless of course you're handy in the kitchen), a family dinner and surprising guests at the end of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Standard disclaimer applies: I own nothing, this is all for fun.
> 
> Oh, and I said the original characters wouldn't be back? I guess I lied.

“Get out!” Belle exclaimed as she wiped her hands off on an apron before grabbing Cyrus by the shoulders, spinning him around and pushing him out of the kitchen.

The genie was rather startled by that greeting, and took a few moments to process what had just happened. Just because he’d made an absolute mess of the baking it seemed he was banned from the kitchen whenever anything was being made, and this extended to Christmas dinner. “But I wanted a glass of water,” he protested, turning to look towards Alice hoping at least she’d be on his side.

Alice looked up from what she was doing, and walked over to the cupboard to retrieve a glass which she then filled with water. She walked over to Cyrus and handed it to him with a smile playing on her lips. “Thank you,” he said, still a little off balance from Belle’s reaction. Honestly, what did they think he was going to do?

She leaned over and gave him a kiss, all the while pushing him more towards the door. When the kiss broke she looked up at his confused face with a laugh. “Alright now, I love you but we have a dinner to make for a lot of people and you’re absolutely no help in the kitchen, so get out,” she informed him.

He didn’t need to be told twice, it would appear that if anyone proved useless with cooking they were banned from the activity, much to his annoyance. He would much rather hang out in the kitchen and watch what the women were doing then sit with Rumpel, Neal and Henry. Not that he didn’t like them, but the latter two had insisted upon turning on that magic box to watch some sort of Christmas parade from a theme park, which did nothing for Rumpel’s mood or even his own.

Cyrus walked back into the sitting room, sipping slowly at his glass of water as he was fairly certain it would be a fool’s errand to try to get another, and sat at the end of the chesterfield by the Christmas tree. He picked up the book he was reading again, it had been a gift from Belle, and flipped it open to where he’d left off.

Henry glanced over to see what he was reading. “Oh, I love A Christmas Carol, it is a great book, but I like the movies of it better,” he said, before his attention was pulled back to the television screen.

“You would,” Rumpel grumbled, wanting to short fuse the television. He wasn’t sure why exactly he even had one. Just one of those oddities that came with the curse; all of their homes and been outfitted with what was needed get by in this realm but he’d never seen the point to the television.

“Oh come on Papa, he’s just a kid. The fact he’s read the book gives him some credit,” Neal argued with a laugh. Kids in this world had a very different childhood from the one he’d had in the Enchanted Forest.

Henry was absolutely enthralled with the parade, although Rumpel would have happily just sat listening to the radio and having conversation with anyone who happened to be in the room. He actually found the parade a little odd, as it was from a theme park that revolved around fairy tale characters and thus far he hadn’t seen one that looked a thing like anyone he knew.

He would admit, their take on Belle was very pretty but would never hold a candle to the real person. Most of the princes and princesses were run of the mill pretty people, which he’d expected. He knew in Belle’s story he would be considered the beast and was not overly thrilled to discover these storytellers interpreted him as huge and hairy. That was rather disturbing and slightly insulting.

Their take on Regina was nothing inspired, he thought. She had just shrugged when she’d seen it, and had to admit she wished her magic mirror back in the Enchanted Forest had been as quiet as the one in this world’s movie. But it was their take on a genie that had Cyrus feeling highly insulted. He’d been so stunned by it he couldn’t even form words. Although, once he did find the ability to express himself again, he did comment if people thought genies were like that no one would be as keen on seeking him out. Who would want a genie quite that flippant? Although he had heard Sidney had been very close to along the lines of the animated, blue version in his days as a genie.

“When is dinner?” Henry asked as a commercial came on, although it seemed the entire parade was nothing more than a long commercial at times.

Rumpel shrugged. “Whenever they tell us I would assume, and not a minute before.”

“Don’t even try to go out there if you’re name isn’t Neal either, they’ll throw you out,” Cyrus muttered, looking up from his book.

Neal laughed at that. “It isn’t my fault I have a talent in the kitchen and you’re absolutely useless.”

“Well we all have our strengths,” the genie commented.

“And yours does not lie in the culinary arts it would seem,” Neal shot back, grinning. He was rather enjoying this, the one thing he’d long for ever since he’d falling through that portal was a sense of family. It had taken a long time, but finally he had it.

Not to mention he now had siblings, so to speak. Over the past few weeks both Alice and Cyrus had begun to show more of a personality, although at first he thought that was impossible with Alice. As she had become more at ease in her new home she began to show more of her imaginative streak. She also was a great storyteller it would seem. She delighted in telling of her adventures in Wonderland, something she could not do with her own family back in Victorian England. It actually amused Neal, and most everyone else, how animated she would get as the story progressed.

It also turned out she had a bit of a mischievous streak and enjoyed playing tricks on people when she saw the opportunity knock. They were all still waiting to hear from Will, as he’d been the recipient of her latest one, with the help of Rumpel and Regina. Neal had actually expected the Knave to come banging on the door first thing in the morning, but had been sadly disappointed.

It also seemed Cyrus had a bit of a sense of humour, which Neal was glad to see. He still had a habit of referring to Rumpel as his master, and if anyone so much as uttered the word ‘wish’ there was a strange little eager look that came over him, but otherwise he was starting to become less of an obedient servant and more of a person. Not to mention a very happy partner in crime to Alice when she came up with a prank to play on someone. Neal couldn’t count the number of times those two had done something to him, and the worst of it was Cyrus had a knack for being eerily silent, so he could get away with almost anything.

And sadly he did; him and Alice. Neal had mentioned to Rumpel that the two seemed to delight in playing tricks on him, to which his father just shrugged and said to allow them their fun. Neal did grumble a bit at that, but decided to let it drop. He was just a little more aware of things around him after that, yet they still were able to pull tricks on him regardless.

They both drove him to distraction at times, but he was glad to have them in his life. It was a strange little family, but it was his.

**********

“Let me see that again,” Emma said, as Belle showed her the gift Rumpel had given her that morning.

Belle laughed as she held out her hand so Emma could admire the ring again. The biggest gift under the tree had contained just a small box inside of it. She’d felt a little put out as she’d expected something really big and special after eyeing the box for so many weeks.

That was until Rumpel came up beside her and scooped the little box out of her hand. She’d been slightly awestruck, as had Alice and Cyrus, when he’d knelt down beside her and proposed. She’d heard him talk about them starting a life together, but she hadn’t expected it to come to this so soon.

Not that she even considered for a moment turning him down. She was breathless when she’d accepted his proposal, and shaking with shock and delight. Of all the gifts she’d even considered, this was not one of them.

“Is it worth asking if you’ve set a date?” Mary Margaret asked, although she had her doubts after the conversation about children a few weeks prior.

Belle shook her head. “No, there is Alice and Cyrus’ wedding to plan first. There is lots of time to worry about wedding plans for ourselves, and I think Rumpel would prefer a smaller affair.”

Regina tried not to snort at that, she actually was happy for Belle but she’d be damned if she would show it. As she’d decided before, she could be happy for anyone unless it was the Charmings. She was staying on her best behaviour for Christmas, despite the urge coming over her once in awhile to choke one of them. It was bad enough they’d allowed David to stay in the kitchen and help out once in awhile, whilst they’d tossed Cyrus the second he’d walked in.

But, she knew that was part of Christmas; being around people you weren’t always keen on. She would still prefer to not spend any part of the day sharing Henry with Mary Margaret and David, and even Emma or Neal on some level, but she would try to be the bigger person in this case. Even if it killed her, and at times when Mary Margaret started talking or even interacting with David she was fairly certain it would.

**********

Alice smiled brightly, this was pretty much how she thought Christmas dinner should be: cheerful chaos. With her father it had always been a subdued event, as he never stopped mourning the loss of his wife. That was if they even had a Christmas dinner, sometimes he didn’t even bother with the holiday. That had always distressed her as a child, other children were enjoying the wonders that came with Christmas and her house did not have a slight hint of the holiday within it.

This year had more than made up for that. Whilst in Wonderland with Cyrus she never thought of any holidays, as everyday with him felt special. Not to mention she was never certain on the passage of time in Wonderland, so trying to keep track of that for the holidays in her own land would be pointless.

She glanced around the table, taking in all the cheery faces as everyone talked and ate. Of course there was the odd argument here and there, mainly over someone taking a bit of food the other person wanted, but it was still a merry little get together.

After everything, all the sadness and feeling she was nothing more than a burden that had dominated her childhood, and then the year spent lost in grief she was more than thankful to be spending the day surrounded by people she loved and she knew loved her in return.

She felt someone clasp her hand under the table, and didn’t even need to look to know it was Cyrus. Alice smiled, she didn’t know what she’d done to be blessed with his love and the love of everyone around the table, but she knew the memories from this day were ones she’d cherish for the rest of her life.

************

Will kicked another snow bank, absolutely annoyed. He couldn’t believe they pulled a fast one on him, and it was more than obvious they’d managed to rope Regina and Rumpel in on it as he knew Cyrus couldn’t use any of his magic for his own use.

That morning he’d dragged himself out of his warm bed, made coffee and then decided to open the gifts his friends had given him. Must to his surprise, a few seconds after he opened them they all turned into lumps of coal. He’d set them down, they’d turn back into the original item, but if so much as laid a finger on any of the gifts they’d revert to coal.

It really didn’t seem fair, he had only been joking about Santa and yet they’d put far too much effort into playing a rather nasty trick on him. He wondered if this weird enchantment would wear off his gifts, or if they’d stay like that.

He glanced over when he saw headlights coming towards him. It seemed strange anyone would be out driving on Christmas night, but then he mused, it wasn’t that late. He stopped as the car pulled up beside him and looked in to see two girls glancing at him curiously.

Will was certain he’d never seen them before, but then again there was always some new character or other suddenly coming out of the woodwork in Storybrooke, and for all he knew these two were somewhat like Neal; of the Enchanted Forest but came to this realm before the curse. It seemed no one from that place could stay away from magic for very long.

“Excuse me, do you know anyone in this town with the last name Gold?” the one with brown wavy hair asked, her blue eyes looking at him warily. Will didn’t think he was that scary looking, but then depending on what fairy tale life they came from maybe he was the most frightening thing they’d ever seen.

Although, he realized a beat later, the scowl on his face likely didn’t help him out. “Yeah, I know the Golds,” he answered, as he gave them directions to the house in question. “And when you get there, you tell Alice she better get Rumpel and Regina to take their little magic spell off my gifts or I’ll find a way to shove that genie of hers back in his bottle for all time and toss it down a well as pay back.”

With that said he walked off, leaving two very confused girls sitting in the car. “What on earth was that about?” the darker haired one asked her companion as she started the car up again and pulled away from the curb.

“Your guess is as good as mine Alana, but I told you we were lost,” the other answered, her hazel eyes roving about to take in the sights of the strange little town they had stumbled upon.

“I told you Robyn, we’re not lost. We’re right where I wanted us to end up after running away from our big, wonderful, miserable family Christmases. Besides, it is rather amusing we found this Storybrooke, I really thought we’d heard them all wrong when they’d said the name,” Alana answered.

Robyn shrugged, it was interesting they’d found the town by complete accident, but they were still lost. It was getting late and they’d been driving for hours in what felt like circles. She’d wanted to get away from her family for a little while, as they were the most judgemental lot, but she actually hadn’t thought when she’d handed Alana the keys to her car they’d end up lost.

“Look at it this way, my family decided half way through the day we weren’t doing Christmas, your family were on your case over stupid things and we somehow found the town those people we met a week or two ago hail from. It does seem a little rude to disturb them on Christmas but we can just pop by to wish them a Merry Christmas and find an inn, or something, then head back to civilization in the morning,” Alana suggested.

“I suppose, and give Alice that weird message about shoving a genie back in a bottle. This place is bloody weird,” Robyn stated.

**********

Regina, Emma, Henry and the Charmings had finally gone home, leaving them all in peace for the rest of the evening. Belle was still giddy over her gift, not so much the pretty bauble but what it represented, she couldn’t stop looking at it and smiling.

Alice was having a great time writing in her book, watching the words melt into pictures, and Neal was writing a few things down in his book to record what he could about his family. Cyrus was watching the snow fall out the window, having finished the book Belle had given him hours ago.

“Were you expecting anyone?” he asked as he saw a car stop outside.

Rumpel shook his head as Neal stood up to go to the door. When he swung it open he was surprised to see the two girls they’d met in the mall standing on the veranda with very confused expressions on their faces. He had though outsiders could not find their way into Storybrooke, or at least that had been his assumption.

“Hi Neal,” Alana said, as he nodded. “Long story short, we were out driving and ended up here somehow and is there an inn we can stay at? It is getting a little late to be heading back to the city.”

Before Neal could answer he heard Belle calling from the living room for him to invite whoever was at the door in. He ushered them both in, taking their coats to put in the closet before leading them into the room everyone was gathered in.

A smile brightened both Alice and Cyrus’ faces when they saw who their guests were. Alana and Robyn both waved slightly when Alice introduced them to Belle and Rumpel, to acknowledge their names. Then Robyn went on to relay the very strange message they’d been told to give Alice, also describing the man who had said it.

Rumpel looked less than impressed by that little message; if Will had wanted the gift unenchanted he could have stopped by, or even picked up a telephone. Instead he’d said something to a pair of outsiders and he knew the rest in the room would be highly against him using magic to wipe their memories of that.

“I’m going to choke Will the next time I see him,” Alice muttered, she knew he had a habit of running at the mouth but he should have been able to tell these two girls were not from Stroybrooke.

“I really think we should be going,” Robyn commented, starting to feel a little uneasy. Obviously there was some big secret they weren’t supposed to know about, which was fine. Everyone had secrets they kept from the world, and it certainly was none of their business.

Cyrus smiled at them warmly. “No, please stay. It is getting late and you should not be driving in the dark and snow, seeing as you really do not know this area well. One of us can show you to the inn to stay at for the night if you please.”

Belle nodded. “I wouldn’t feel right sending you both off when you aren’t familiar with this area. As well, I’m sorry about what Will said to you, as it does cause some troubles on both sides but he must have assumed you two were people from town he had not seen before.”

“I kind of gathered that,” Alana said. “It was an odd message but I assume someone here understands it so that really is all that matters.”

Alice told them she understood it loud and clear, muttering something about doing worse to him next time she set her mind to it. The girls exchanged looks, really starting to feel uneasy. All they’d wanted was to get away from uncomfortable situations and now they were in the middle of yet another one. Except with this time around they had no idea what they’d run upon.

“You can trust them,” Cyrus suddenly said, after looking at the two girls critically for a spell.

“How do you know?” Neal asked, baffled at that assertion.

“Oh, he can read people. I would think with how long he’s lived it would be something he’d acquired a talent for,” Alice explained, realizing she’d just made the situation a little worse.

Rumpel shook his head, this was quiet the little mess. But he knew the way the spell that kept Storybrooke hidden worked; it would not be found by outsiders unless it wanted to be found. It was a strange little loophole in the curse, but he could only assume these girls would not have found the town without reason.

He trusted Cyrus knew enough about people from his long life to be able to know they could trust the girls, so he launched into yet another Christmas tradition: telling stories. This one was likely the most unbelievable of them all, and he’d have to get Alice and Cyrus to join in on the Wonderland parts, but he could tell by the looks in the eyes of both girls they were rather skeptical but at the same time longed to believe what they were hearing.

Maybe magic wasn’t truly dead in this realm, it was clear these two wanted to believe in it. And if all else failed, Rumpel mused, he could wipe their memories regardless.

It truly had turned out to be a strange, yet wonderful, first Christmas for them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh, its done! lol, I tried to get it finished last night and failed, so after everyone left for a bit this afternoon I got back at it.
> 
> The reason for Alana & Robyn reappearing is I realized I had a use for them in another story I plan to write set in this alternate universe. All they are ever going to be is friends with anyone, I know at times people don't like original characters in stories but sometimes they're needed. I just hope they're not too boring, although they really haven't been fleshed out much.
> 
> Either way, I hope this was slightly enjoyable, and Merry Christmas everyone. :)

**Author's Note:**

> Some Christmas fun, I can't really say when updates will come, as it is literally a work in progress. It will hopefully be complete by Christmas Eve.
> 
> This is set after **Safe** , so I imagine some references in this might not make sense without having read that first. The chapters _should_ be shorter this time around, but I make no promises.
> 
> I hope it is enjoyable. This will mainly just be various moments over the holidays for the characters.


End file.
